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Piers Morgan, Tina Brown and actor Colin Firth. Image by via @daylife

Piers Morgan continues to give off promising signs that he can deliver the injection of non-boringness that CNN so badly needs in primetime. At a "Welcome to America" party at the home of Daily Beast editor Tina Brown, Morgan, who takes over the 9 p.m. slot from Larry King beginning Monday night, told a hilarious anecdote about his first meeting with Fox News star Bill O'Reilly.

The two men crossed paths recently in the VIP suite at a Knicks game. Morgan introduced himself to O'Reilly, "who's something like six-foot-eight," he said, only to be blown off. But that didn't sit well with O'Reilly's teenage daughter, who turned out to be a fan of Morgan's "America's Got Talent."
She insisted her father march back across the room and humbly request a photo with Morgan. The crowning indignity came when a security guard, who apparently didn't recognize O'Reilly, rushed over to block the shot, saying, in Morgan's retelling, "We must safeguard the privacy of our celebrity guests."

Morgan said he ended the encounter by inviting O'Reilly to appear on his show: "I said, 'You've clearly got some celebrity-related issues. I can help with that.'"

Later, I told Morgan what I've already written: that it's been refreshing to hear him speaking frankly about the importance of fixing CNN's increasingly desperate primetime ratings problem. "I just answer questions," he said. "If people don't like it, tough titty."